The South African government took an in-principle decision to convert the SAFARI-1 research reactor to LEU fuel in 1999. This was fully implemented in 2009, followed by a conversion to LEU target plates for radioisotopes production in 2010. The first shipments of such product to international customers took place in July 2010. Full conversion has not been without significant technical hurdles, but nevertheless constitutes an important step towards freeing the world of HEU-based production processes, in line with commitments made by heads of state at the April 2010 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. It is expected that regulatory systems in countries purchasing significant quantities of radioisotopes will respond by giving preferential treatment to LEU-origin products.
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